Ram, Sukh and a Raja

Thou art blessed if neither the BJP nor the ruling Congress takes cognizance of thy analysis. Look at the timing of Pandit Sukh Ramji’s incarceration. Now there is speculation that the 86-year-old ailing politician, who as minister of telecommunication in 1996 was charged with Rs 3 lakh bribe, should share the same room with A Raja, the present accused in an estimated 1.76 lakh crore scam on 2G. Do they have a permanent department for all scam-accused of the same ministry? If that be so, other co-accused in 2G should have got preference.

Setting aside the revenue loss, there is no comparison between the minister of telecommunications of 1996 and the one accused in the 2G case. One hails from the hills, the other is from Tamil Nadu. One reason could be that divergent cultures and technologies will make it difficult for both to compare notes and prepare a common defence. Or is it that if some leniency is extended to Panditji on health grounds, will it also be extended to his roommate, based on the law of commonality. So is Panditji in to give a Brahmin’s solace to a Raja’s soul, and also to relieve him of worldly shackles? Possible.

Indian naming ceremonies have strict protocols as per the most exact horoscope averaged out time in seconds between the obstetrician’s notes, the midwife’s, and the mother-in-law’s recently imported chronometer. Much of your lifetime’s happiness depends if that second is correctly timed. To quite an extent, the two names that have come to occupy the same spot on the globe have some truth. “Sukh Ram” would be quite auspicious in its times and reverent belief. The truth that comes forth now is that “Ram” in his later years lived apart from his wife, and hardly had any “Sukh” the way it is understood in a worldly manner. This explanation was probably not foreseen earlier.

Coming to “A Raja”, “Raja” being his first name, stands good for all that he commanded, even outsmarting Dayanidhi Maran. I have not been able to figure out the meaning of “Andimuthu”, his father’s name. Was this an amalgamation of two words, apposed in proportion to ward off an impending evil about to hit the family in future? I really can’t comment on this, but perhaps these two nominal aberrations put together in time and place may cancel out each other.

The place “Tihar” is the name of a village on the outskirts of Delhi. Its origins are not known. Medieval Indian history does not talk of a folklore, and the Moghul and the British era are equally silent. I mean it is not something like “Bahadurgarh”, or “Daltonganj” (wonder why they have not yet changed the name). Bhojpuri scriptwriters have given some suggestions. It may depict a third person entity in grammar. For instance, “hamaar” (mine), “tumhaar” (yours), “tihaar” (third person). In practical terms, if the ruling party, the opposition, both are equally culpable, they wash off their hands by lodging the controversy in “tihaar”, whoever be responsible in that case.

Don’t believe me? Consider the recent epidode of Mr. Anna Hazare. The opposition did not want to own up. The treasury was wary of it. The premises were decided. Consider Mr. Amar Singh. Cash-for-votes was not done for his own majority. The ruling party was the decided beneficiary, and for reasons best known, the opposition probably was tied in the inimitable “Yadurappa” bungling, so the shrewd politician took the position at the third man boundary, till the end of the power play. There are international operatives who come under the law, but for reasons best known to governments, are never ever punished. Want an example? That’s Charles Shobhraj for you.

Tihar, despite Kiran Bedi’s best efforts, accommodates 12000 prisoners instead of a built-in capacity for a little above 5000. There are advantages, though. You get vocational training, merchandise that can get you the money, which if you had earned in your honest capacity, would not have forced you to land up there at all. There is a music room, and Vipassna classes, that can make a hermit out of you. Someone recently cleared his IIT, and was allowed to go scotfree.

There are many lessons to be drawn. In today’s India, a certain prison gives you free accommodation, food, vocational training, spiritual inclinations, medical facilities and enough contacts to carry out further business after your release!

There are more stringent ones where you are in solitary confinement, but they spend around three crores annually. For that you have to be classified as a “terrorist”. Besides the money billed on your name, even death sentences are less likely to be executed. Arthur Road accommodation is comparable, perhaps a notch higher by comparison.

There must be a reason, why Raja, Ram, and Sukh are together. The sequence has been altered, but makes sense from a certain philosophical angle.

Hopefully, look for a “Happy’ ending, not forgetting the fact, that the village “Tihar” was once under the jurisdiction of the Punjab Government! That government has always won on slogans, “Happy”, and “Lucky”.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Author

Anoop Kohli is a senior consultant neurologist at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. His interests go far beyond his chosen profession. For him, it's just one game of life so interesting to study for all its themes and aberrations. He also dabbles in script-writing and recently got a membership of the Bombay Film Writers' Association. In this blog, Masquerader, expect from him anything from H1N1 to Heena.